For years, the conflict-wracked east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been cursed by sexual violence on a scarcely imaginable scale, which has seen it labelled as the 'rape capital of the world' and the 'worst place on earth to be a woman'.
Source: IRIN News
Sexual violence is on the rise as armed groups continue to move across the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu Province, officials say.
Source: South African Government
The Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development reiterated government's commitment to fight all forms of hate crimes and gender based violence, including violence against, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and inter-sex (LGBTI) people.
Women and children are increasingly being caught up in violent attacks related to cattle rustling and inter-communal rivalries in South Sudan’s Jonglei State, say officials.
Learning that she was HIV+ and that her husband had hidden the truth of his condition from her was a double shock for Florence, who lives in Liberia’s capital Monrovia. But with support from WFP, she has turned her life around and is hopeful about her family’s future.
Source: United Nations
With women caught in the crossfire in Mali, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other conflict-affected countries, the world must ramp up support and efforts to ensure their vital voices were heard, heeded and included in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and beyond, top United Nations officials told the Security Council today during a day-long debate on women and peace and security.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
FEMALE Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice has been modernized to avoid harming private parts of young girls in Tarime District of Mara Region, traditional leaders have said.
Source: The Chronicle
It appears the Central University College (CUC) is fast becoming the preferred private university college for Ghanaian female students in recent times.
"Some of the most promising solutions to the spread of HIV reside in stripping away the layers of oppression from the lives of women and girls."
Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, Fashion designer and philanthropist is now the richest black woman in the word, according to report published by Ventures Africa, an African business magazine and news services.
Scores of women marched round major streets of Ibadan calling on legislators to make laws on violence against women.
Pregnant and bereaved, Thandiwe Zondi considered killing herself and her five daughters when she was evicted from her marital home.
The Arab Spring has failed to deliver greater political power to women in the region or to offer them better protection from sexual harassment, but may yet yield female-friendly reform, a conference on women's rights heard on Tuesday.
The adoption by Côte d'Ivoire’s parliament of a law on equality between legally married couples has sparked anger, especially among religious people. For them, this law will create more problems in the home than it will solve.
Source: The New Times
The second International Conference on the role of security organs in ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Africa held in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, has unanimously agreed to establish a permanent secretariat in Kigali to coordinate its activities.
Jeanette Bindu’s network in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has just informed her of a mass rape in Minova — more than 100 women within just four days. Thousands of government troops have fled the provincial capital of Goma in the face of an advance by the M23 rebels, and on Nov. 22 the government soldiers arrived on the small town of Minova, 54 km to the west.
Introduced more than 15 years ago, the female condom has gotten a bad rap, with some comparing it to having sex with a plastic bag, while many others still don't know about the only female-controlled HIV prevention method available.
In August 2012, the African Gender and Media Initiative, a Kenyan NGO, released a report documenting cases of forced and coerced sterilizations of HIV-positive women, carried out by both private and government-run health facilities.
Sexual violence against women is widespread in Mali. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson at a meeting of the Security Council on Women, Peace and Security, recounted the acute challenges which he saw women facing in times of crisis and conflict in Mali.
Top United Nations officials today highlighted the invaluable role of women’s organizations and civil society groups in preventing violence and resolving conflict, stressing that their contributions are vital to building a peaceful world and must be further supported.